"Yes Ma'am" Eric smiled and headed off to say his goodbyes to Pietro before leaving.

Doctor Strange was lounging, reading one of the books Ciara had gotten for him in Genosha. "...Fascinating..." He looked up as a flash of the filled a near by room.

He got up and walked in, "Ah, Eric. All in one piece I see."

Eric looked around the place, "Yes..." it wasn't exactly what he'd expected, then again, what should one expect when entering the home of a magician? "This is in America?"

"New York actually for the time being. The door to my home connects to various places around the world but the one in New York will always open for you. Would you care for some wine? I just opened a bottle 1863."

"That sounds delightful" Eric nodded, "Hmm, I haven't been to New York since I nearly killed hundreds of international diplomats from the statue of Liberty"

"Ah. Yes. How could anyone forget such an event... If it won't for your change of heart, I very doubt you would have made it this far without a few red flags going off." He commented pouring Eric a glass.

"Perhaps for the best at the moment" Eric swirled the wine in the glass as he thought about it, "I am yet uncertain about this journey. I've already spent a lifetime among homo-sapiens and have been the worse for it. I'm still rather pessimistic about what I will find this time around."

~
"Ok everyone. You have 3 hours to explore about the city. Just remember to meet back here before the show. Who's exicited to see Wicked?" The teacher said excitedly. Her students all cheered. "Alright, your time starts now-"

*LARGE EXPLOSION a few blocks away*

"...Oh Dear. Alright everyone, explore that a way. We don't want anyone to get hurt." She said pointing in that direction.
"But it could be Spiderman! Or Captain America!"
"I can't wait to try out my new camera!"
"Girls. Girls!" She tried to keep them heading away from what clearly was some kind of battle. "Boys. Boys!" They pushed past her, she spun, slipped and fell over, knocking her glasses off. "Oh dear..."

~
"Ah. I can see why you hesitate. The world certainly has had it's blackest days but it would seem it may not be as dark as you remembered. It's not easy change the minds of a people over night. As Gandi once said 'Be the change that you wish to see in the world' Hmmm?"

Beep Beep Beep He waved his hand over a floating nearby ball to reveal a giant black creature destroying downtown New York. "Oh Dear."

Eric looked over to the screen, "That looks promising..." he turned to head out the door, intent on checking it out.

"Eric. Remember, when you wish to return to Genosha, my door will always be open..."
~

A large crowd had formed about a block and a half away from the creature. Many of them were students with blue uniforms.

There were many people near the creature, just laying there, their skin had turned grey and many of them were hugging themselves clearly in some kind of shock.

A woman ran and tripped. The creature roared a high pitched roar and swiped it's claw down at the woman.
A flash of red swung by, "Sorry Big boy. You're days are numbered." Spider man set the woman down before engaging combat with the creature but nothing he did seemed to work. His webs went right through it and... so did his kicks and fists.

With a swipe of it's claw Spider man turned grey and fell to his knees, "Need.. back-up Nick.." It was like all the happiness had been drained from his body.

A girl in the crowd screamed and other yelled for Spider-man to get up. This action attracted the creature's attention. It charged at them.

It happened so fast. Just before the creature was before them, a great flash of colour zoomed past their heads and with a mighty swing the creature went flying back.

The masked hero turned, "Oi. Get clear, NOW." She ordered the crowd.

"O.M.G! It's her! It's her!" One of the girls in uniform screamed.
"Get the camera. Did you get it?"

Her one shoulder sank as they all began to cheer excitedly. " Now. listen. Young...citizens This is pretty dangerous-"

"LOOK OUT!"

The masked woman turned and with a swing of her staff sent the creature back, "NOW." She yelled before charging forward.

Eric found himself among the crowd, he at least knew well enough to stay a decent distance away. Spiderman was not as impressive as he had hoped, he was doing nothing against this beast.
He glanced around at the people watching, did they not realize how insignificant and foolish they looked from here? Taking pictures, they were soon to be that creature's lunch. But then that girl appeared, was she glowing? Or was that just the sun behind her? Either way, she was radiant and Eric found himself gawking-for just a moment, with the others. He quickly snapped himself back to reality and was quick to move aside-not that many of the other civilians noticed.
uhg, civilians. He was just another one of them now.

The crowd backed away a bit but watched exicitedly, "Can you believe she's here in New York!?"

"What are the odds right? You think she's from our school?"
"Who knows right? *Sigh* She's so radiant and amazing."

The girl jumped with ease, dodging the monster's attacks. As she dodged she dragged the back end of her staff on the concrete, drawing out what looked like a magic circle.

"Woah. Easy there boy." She called. The beast smacked her staff out of her hand and as it flew it morphed into what looked like a Black-footed cat "Finish the circle!" The cat meowed at the command and with it's tail continued to draw the circle.

A New-Yorker crossed his arms, "GREAT. First we have a giant spider running around and now we have a magical girl? What's the world coming to?"
Three girls with school uniforms turned, "SHE'S NOT A MAGICAL GIRL!"
"How dare you insult her like that!"
"She's Ceres! A good witch, obviously."
"Yeah, if she was a magical girl she'd be covered in more ribbons and stuff."
"Obviously."


"Don't worry citizens, your neighborly Spider-man will stop him... Oh what's the point?... No one loves me anyways." He mopped kicking a can. The woman kicked Spider-man out of the way as the creature spun it's tail at him. With a great leap and a spin, she leapt over his body and planted a kiss on it's forehead.

She landed on the edge of the just finished magic circle and slammed her hands on the edge, "Begone wicked one. And release this host. Reveal yourself." She chanted. The cat ran about the circle and disappeared in a blur of white light. A white light the filled the several street blocks.

When the light disappeared, Ceres stood in the middle of the circle, holding a strange creature. "It's ok... It's all over now."

Eric couldn't do much but watch. He did however walk passed Spiderman as the threat was taken care of, "Perhaps you should do a little more training." he advised, "clearly she has something that you do not"

Ceres walked over, carrying what looks like glowing orbs, "It's not his fault. This creature doesn't exist on this plane. Only magic works." She knelt and held one of the orbs to his chest. The orb sucked into Spider-man's outfit and the colour returned to his body.

"WOAH! I'm... What- What just happened?"
"The Lumina is a creature of good will and love. It got corrupted and zapped all your positive feelings away. Coco, take some." She passed the cat a few orbs and it wrapped them in it's tail, quickly returning them to their owners.

"Then it's magic that you have and he doesn't" Eric shrugged, "If he really wants to be a hero, he has a lot more to learn."

"Hey! I am learning... Check out my new spidery cycle." He waved his hands like a model on the price is right.

She giggled, kneeling down to give Coco another orb but slipped onto her face, "Ow..."

"CERES!" Came a bunch of voices.

"Well that's embarrassing.." She sighed from the ground, her butt in the air., "Not the fan club. Coco. Distraction 52 go." The cat meowed and leapt in front of the girls, giving them his biggest eyes.

They all stopped and awed over the little feline.

Eric ignored spiderman as he offered Ceres a hand up, "The most graceful fall I have ever seen"

She blushed, awkwardly "Um. Thanks." She took his hand and brushed herself off. "Good-bye." She hopped up to a lamp post and whistled for Coco to follow.

Eric smiled at her, placing his hands back into his trenchcoat pockets, he watched her leave before giving spiderman a glance, "Can't you just swing around on your webs? The motorcycle seems redundant."

"Do you have any idea how much webbing costs?"

"Spider-man! What happened here?" Nick Fury appeared beside him making Spider-man jump.
"Quit doing that."
"Part of the job. Now Explain this."

"I believe I can enlighten you, Mr. Fury." Doctor Strange appeared, making Spider-man jump into Nick's arms, who dropped him right away.

"Get a better job?" Eric shrugged and backed away to let them all discuss things. Curiously, he headed in the same direction the magical woman had gone.

About a min later, from the opposite direction a teacher came up behind the students, huffing and puffing. "Students! What do you... think you're doing?"

"Oh Miss Ambrose."
"Are you ok? You've got a bump on your head."

Her eye twitched and she lunged out and wrapped her arm around the student's neck and gave him a noggy, "BECAUSE YOU PUSHED ME!" She let him go. "I was worried sick! No more running toward danger alright? Or you're all be grounded to the hotel room till the end of the trip."

"Awww man.."

Eric looked at her curiously, he didn't remember seeing her in the crowd when all this was going on.

She adjusted her glasses, "Come along now, apparently you all can use your free time properly. Therefore," She made eye contact with Eric but then her gaze went to Spider-man, "*Gasp* Is that Spider-man?!" Realizing she had just gotten excited she coughed, "I mean... therefore we're all going for ice-cream before the show. ON WARD!"

The students fell in line and followed their teacher onward.

Eric glanced around, he didn't have anything better to do and something was nagging him about this woman, so he casually trailed along behind the group.